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Kaedyn rolls his eyes. “I’m more worried about the general population when she gets angry. She can handle herself… The rest of the world, not so much.” I laugh, listening to the astute deductions and how they express their concern over our mate.
“Well, gentlemen, I can tell you I am. I’m not a fan of moving through the shadows, even as effective as it is. I can’t argue against it, but it definitely takes some getting used to.” They both nod, knowing exactly what I’m saying.
They both come over one by one and shake my hand and give me a bro hug, welcoming me to the family. Bella rolls her eyes and then ducks back into the closet for a moment and comes out in a very regal gown. “We have work to do, boys. Dress up, put on your best clothes, somebody lend Sebastian something nice to wear. I have to go to court,” she says as her teeth gleam in the light and her eyes take on the glow of her wolf. That bright emerald color eclipses the gray green in her eyes to where you no longer see her pupils. There are no pupils, and there’s no white of her eyes, just a solid green glow staring back at you. It’s now that I know that this is when she means business and she’s hit her breaking point. The guys and I rush around quickly to get dressed in the best attire that we can all fit into. She reaches back into a box that’s sitting on a chair. It’s a rather plain looking box. It’s there that she pulls out this ornate crown and places it on her head. Around the base of the crown are skulls and the peaks themselves are made of obsidian. She places it on her head and then looks at each of us.
“Let’s go.” Those are the last words that fall from her lips before she raises a hand, and the doors open before us. I have a feeling our mate is out for blood and will accept no less than subjugation. The tyranny brought about by King Mateo and his mate was soon to end.
Chapter34
Hollis
To saythat seeing Bella disappear with Sebastian last night and then reappear with him this morning with the bond fully in place made me happy is an understatement. Orwell was a tool and a jerk, and extremely self-centered, and I knew for a fact that he was not gonna fit into this family that we have built. Between him and his brother, they caused a lot of strife with the Fire Kingdom that we’re going to next. I was almost afraid that if we were to bring him, especially not as a fated mate, but as a compatible one, that would only raise the ire of the Fire Kingdom further. We already know Flint is sadistic, and he’s going to be difficult enough to manage. But to have to manage Flint, babysit Orwell and try to keep everything in line would be the task even more impossible than it already is.
There are several things going on that currently concern me. First, there hasn’t been an Orc attack in a while, so the question is, was it just a coincidence that it happened between mine and Kaedyn’s kingdom? Maybe it’s just because of the locality? Our kingdoms are much closer than the Water and Fire Kingdoms. Then there’s the matter of the Fae that they themselves are after Bella and are concerned about keeping her from attaining her full power. From what I’ve read, it was them that banished the spirit element from existence by encouraging the separation of the species of wolves.
At one point, from what I read in the histories, all the kingdoms could interbreed without an issue. It was only approximately a thousand years ago where the Fae wiped the memories of the adults. They separated us into separate kingdoms for the purity of the species. Now human history had something similar than to that happen, and it’s quite disturbing to know that it happened here long before that event. I watch Bella now as she gets herself ready. Assuming the full mantle of queen which she had railed against in the beginning. She didn’t want to be queen. She was more than happy to have her brother be the king and to find a mate and just settle down and be happy. I mean, partially in my defense, that had been my dream for the longest time. Find my mate, have a nice place to live, and have pups of our own running around. That is the ultimate goal.
But with us all being royals, unfortunately the whole point of pomp and circumstance, being what it is, there are still some old traditions that we must follow. The tradition of a royal marrying a royal is one that Bella’s already expressed that she’s going to abolish as soon as possible. We march through the halls, heading down to the throne room. We already hear the tones of everybody’s anger rising through the walls and through the doors as they all fight, trying to rally and figure out exactly what they’re doing to prevent Bella from going through with taking a commoner as a mate. Little do they know, it’s already far too late for that to happen and Sebastian is fully claimed.
The more we listen to the argument within, the angrier Bella is becoming. I’m watching the black fur ripple over her bare arms and down her neck, even though her visage says something completely different, ever stoic, not a single emotion shows on her face. But the rippling of fur tells an entirely different story. She and her beast are in a rage, and I’m almost afraid to find out what they’re going to do next. Eventually, she moves forward and presses the doors open, throwing them wide and stepping into the throne room unannounced.
King Mateo makes the mistake of whipping his head up and staring at her and yelling at her. “What is the meaning of this?”
The minute those words fall from his mouth. She looks back at me and gives me a single nod. I know that nod well, as does Kaedyn. We both move as one to pull Sebastian back and warn him to stay out of her way. Bella steps forward and, as she does, the wood planks under her feet rot and turn to ash. Every step she takes, more of the ornate floor is destroyed. She passes several vases of flowers along the way, and they wither and die falling to ash on the tabletop. The wood of the table itself disintegrates. Under the weight of the glass vases on it falling to the floor and shattering upon impact.
“I don’t believe you understand who you’re messing with,” Bella says ever so calmly. “You forget your role in this, King Mateo.” She looks between the king, the queen and both of their sons, and their advisers. Her hands remain folded in front of her, still holding the stance of propriety.
“What do you think a mere female can do?” Mateo says, making his ultimate mistake.
“What can a female do? Have we forgotten who I am?” she asks, and with those words, the whole feeling of the throne room shifts. The massive pressure pushes down on the room and the inhabitants within it. She’s making her presence larger than it was before. At this point, she’s larger than life, filling this room to its entirety with her power. Everything in the room that was once lively and beautiful withers and die, falling to ash. Everything that is wood or made of something natural that can decompose falls to nothing. Even the thrones that Mateo and his wife are sitting on. They turn to ash and disintegrate.
When she’s wreaked enough havoc. She stops and smiles. “I am the Spirit Wolf reborn. I don’t know if it was my father’s careful choosing of a mate or his father’s careful choosing of a mate for himself. But I am here. I know they had hoped that it would be their son that would become the Spirit Element, but it is me.” When she says those words, the council members finally realize exactly what’s happening. The old prophecy is coming true. Spirit has risen again.
“I will not stand by and let antiquated ideas control my future.” She stands firm and tall and proud. And at this moment, I couldn’t be any prouder to be her mate. Kaedyn and I nod to each other and take Sebastian to move up alongside her.
“What is the meaning of taking a commoner as a mate?” Bella laughs at the question.
“A wolf is a wolf. Doesn’t matter whether or not it has a crown on its head.” She stares at King Mateo, waiting for him to challenge that idea. A soft laugh escapes her lips. “You have basically sentenced your sons to a horrible life, forcing them to take mates that are not theirs.” She looks between the king and queen, and the queen lowers her head in sorrow. Knowing that what her husband proposes is not right.
She stares at them all and then walks back toward the three of us. Bella reaches out, extending her hands to the three of us. We each gently place a hand on top of hers and look back at the king and queen of the Water Kingdom. “You have chosen your sides. I will not forget this,” Bella states calmly and then looks back at the three of us.
“Gather your things. We will depart shortly.” With all that she’s done, she remains calm. She turns and motions for us to leave the room. She’s made her peace and now she’s ready to move on to the next step. When she assumes the full mantle of queen, peace will reign across the kingdom once more. Like it had been almost 200 years ago.
As we walk through the halls, Kaedyn and Sebastian are making phone calls. With both of them on the phone, I slid up alongside Bella and take her arm in mine. Offering her silent support for what’s coming next. She gives a slight nod of her head and smiles when she looks over at me. I lean over and kiss her cheek. Looking down, I notice the different type of bite mark on her shoulder that replaced Orwell’s. Tracing the angry raised holes, she laughs. “Yeah, things got a little crazy last night.” She smiles, thinking about it.
“Gee, you don’t say.” I laugh. I can’t help to see how she’s fumbling through this, trying to figure out how to explain why the bite mark clearly looks like canine teeth, not human teeth.
“Well, it’s kind of like this. I knew we had to cancel out Orwell’s bite somehow. When Sebastian showed me his wolf, I had the idea of letting his wolf bite over it as a more primal way of claiming,” she says as her cheeks turn a brilliant shade of pink, then red; blushing from embarrassment, admitting to what happened.
I can’t help but laugh as Kaedyn turns his head slowly. Trying to make sure he heard what he thought he did as he looks between Bella and Sebastian. Sebastian clears his throat, trying to avoid the conversation that I’m pretty sure Kaedyn would like to have. Shrugging my shoulders, I kiss my bite mark. “Whatever works, sweetheart. If that’s what it took to break whatever little tether Orwell had over you, then that was the best decision to be made,” I state plainly as I look from the bite mark over to Sebastian.
A sly grin crosses Sebastian’s lips before he ends the call that he’s on. “I’ve arranged passage for us from here to the Fire Kingdom. My cousin John moved there about three years ago. His mate is from there, so instead of removing her from her family and bringing her here, he moved there to be with her. Kind of romantic,” he says as he puts the phone into his back pocket.
Bella smiles and agrees with him, then looks over at me and Kaedyn. “Let’s get ourselves packed. I want to get out of here as soon as possible.”
“What’s the rush?” Sebastian says.
I look at him and then over at Kaedyn and Bella. “Let’s be realistic. I don’t think the king would be happy with us in his kingdom for much longer, especially since you two broke the bond that his son started.”
